in brief Qantas today confirmed it had finalised a closely watched IT outsourcing arrangement with IBM which will see around 200 staff offered a position with Big Blue.
A spokeswoman for the airline confirmed the arrangement this afternoon but could not provide further detail. The positions are mainly to come from Qantas' IT program delivery team. The contract was flagged as a potential option back in June.
The news of the formal sign-off comes after the airline's executive manager of corporate services and technology David Hall publicly laid out his vision for a more streamlined IT department at the airline that would move past what he described as its "transactional and sometimes antagonistic relationship" with other divisions.
Qantas had gradually cut its IT department headcount from about 1400 back in 1997 to a total of 375 today.
